Arranged Marriage

In the Mountains


We arrived at the Bagdogra airport at 3pm and had two options take the 45 minute helicopter ride or drive for four hours to get to Sikkim. I wanted to drive, praj wanted to fly, but unfortunately neither were an option. The helicopter was booked full and the road to Sikkim was blocked by a landslide. This part of India is very mountainous and during monsoon season there are often landslides that block the road. There is a side road that wasn’t blocked that we could take to Darjeeling, famous for its tea, so we decided to go there instead. I went to the prepaid taxi stand and was listening to a couple and figured out that they were also going to Darjeeling, Praj talked to them and we shared the cab to Darjeeling. Praj asked the guy “This isn’t your honeymoon, or something is it?” and the guy laughed and assured Praj that it wasn’t.

On the drive to Darjeeling we talked with the guy and figured out that is was their honeymoon they just didn’t want to call it that. The guys name was Shekhar and he had married his wife a month ago, but she wasn’t feeling well so we didn’t talk with her much. Praj asked the man if it was a love wedding and it was not, it was arranged. This really piqued my interest and we asked him to tell us the story. He was thirty and unmarried and his parents wanted him to get married so they looked online and in the newspaper to find a suitable girl for their son. Shekhar’s parents found a listing they liked and contacted the family and the two families liked each other and then Shekhar and his wife exchanged emails and decided that they were acceptable matches for each other. Then Shekhar’s future father in law came to Shekhar’s town to stay with him for a night to see his place and meet his friends. Everyone agreed that they should go ahead with the wedding and they were wed last month.

On the way to Darjeeling we stopped at a restaurant/home on the side of the road to get some food. The entire trip Praj has been telling me how amazing momo’s are, a type of dumpling, but he forbid me from eating them anywhere else that wasn’t the northeast, because he said they would be no good. I was finally able to try some momo’s and they were quite good. We also had some tea and it was amazing, it tasted like a candy drink.

While eating we found out that there was another landslide ahead on the road we were on and traffic was stuck. The cab driver wanted to turn around and go back and have us retry the next day, but we were having no part of that. We wanted to inspect the scene for ourselves, so we pushed on and found some slow moving traffic. Apparently it had been blocked all day and was just opening as we got there. The road was down to one lane and each side had to take their turn, which meant stopping for over half an hour several times to let the backup from the other direction come through. We walked around and took pictures and talked to people and it was the most enjoyable delay ever.

This part of India is so different from any other part I have been to and Prajwal assures me that Sikkim is even more different. It’s cold, there are mountains and the people look oriental. The mountains and the fog are beautiful and I want to go backpacking. Hopefully we will be able to do something even if I go backpacking and Praj has to ride on a donkey.

When we finally made it to Darjeeling around 10pm our cab driver doubted the cab could make it up the roads to our hotel, situated near the top of the town, so he dropped of the married couple first and then started up the hill to our hotel. The cab stalled and died, it couldn’t make it up the hill with Praj and me in it so we had to get out and walk while the driver pushed the car up the mountain with our luggage in the trunk.

We are going to spend Saturday exploring Darjeeling and then head to Sikkim Sunday if the roads allow.


The Mountains

City in the Mountains

"Pet" Pig

Mountain View

Praj with a Policeman

A River Runs Through It

An Indian Political Rally